New Year’s resolutions will continue to weigh heavy on people trying to incorporate healthy lifestyle changes in everyday routines, but a Leawood health food restaurant is making it easier for people to stay on track by serving up a health-conscious menu made with some of the best organic ingredients available.
Staci Cross is the proud owner of Enjoy Pure Food + Drink and while her restaurant is known to serve healthy food and help people achieve personal health goals, her mission is to educate people on the positive impacts healthy eating can have and making it easy to sustain that mentality.
“What I was trying to achieve was a large variety of plant based healthy food. I was running around the country, and saw I could get a cold press juice or a bad smoothie with yogurt and orange juice anywhere, and realized we need more healthy food options than just a salad or a plate of hummus,” said Cross.
Enjoy Pure Food + Drink currently offers a variety of menu options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner all made with select organic ingredients, which Cross says are carefully sourced to ensure customers are eating nutritionally-dense food with every bite.
“I am so particular with every ingredient that walks through the door,” said Cross, “most of our customers in the health community know this, so they count on us and trust us.”
Some of the restaurant’s best selling-items are their warm bowls like their ‘Take On the World’ which is packed with red and white quinoa, an array of vegetables like kale, broccoli and beets, healthy fats such as almonds, hemp seeds, avocado, and showered with a tasty ginger-miso dressing. The bowl is gluten free, vegan and organic. It's actually their #1 seller.
“I think that's why people feel good when they come here because we are so intentional about serving from the heart, and to really lift people up because it goes with the healthy food,” said Cross.
Cross says her cold-press juices also rank high in popularity, because each juice is crafted to meet specific nutritional needs, and can help customers recover after a long workout or during a cleanse. There are seven varieties of ‘Enjoy’ juices on the menu and each has a shelf life of three to four days to ensure enzyme benefits are at its peak upon purchase.
“People worldwide drink cold-pressed juice because of the live enzymes that transport all the nutrients throughout your body. Enzymes are so important. It's a primary reason why people drink cold pressed juice instead of juice you buy off the grocery store shelf. It's not only because they're drinking healthy vegetables and fruits. It's because of the live enzymes,” explained Cross.
Drinking without the guilt is another option at Enjoy Pure Food + Drink. Alcoholic drinks and craft cocktails are notoriously known for their high calorie intake and added sugars that can often lead to weight gain. However, Pura cocktails bring to the table a clean cocktail experience. Cross boasts there are no refined sugar, syrups, artificial flavors or dyes in her cocktails which are mainly a blend of fresh-pressed juices, home-made infusions and fresh ingredients. Their craft cocktail varies from a healthy take on a classic margarita, to a seasonal bourbon mixed drink and a variety of organic wines and spirits.
“We know that our customers like a cocktail, or like a glass of wine with their meal, and we just want it to be as healthy as the food that they're eating,” said Cross.
As for what’s next Cross says she’s focused on potentially expanding her businesses and continuing to bring healthy food options to as many people as possible. One thing is for sure, she continues to focus in on the Midwest; an area she says is craving for healthy food options.
“We serve about three to four hundred people a day. It's not just a niche,” said Cross. “I think that Kansas City was definitely hurting, starving for more healthy food options, and when we expand, we want to go where people need us.”